Gifted students showcase ideas at Invention Convention

Wednesday

Apr 3, 2013 at 12:01 AMApr 3, 2013 at 11:30 PM

Participants in Gadsden City Schools’ Enrichment Program on Wednesday presented their inventions and ideas to be judged by members of The Chamber of Gadsden and Etowah County at Eura Brown Elementary School.

By John DavidsonTimes Staff Writer

Participants in Gadsden City Schools’ Enrichment Program on Wednesday presented their inventions and ideas to be judged by members of The Chamber of Gadsden and Etowah County at Eura Brown Elementary School.The Enrichment Program is designed for gifted elementary students. They meet once a week for an entire day and combine students from different schools in the same place. The students in the program range from the third to fifth grades.There were three overall winners and winners for each grade in the event.Kellie Crisson, one of the teachers for the program, said the students have been working on their projects since January and all have taken great pride in putting their inventions on display.Third-grader Rosalee Babin from Thompson Elementary took home first place for her Sheet-O-Matic idea, which simplifies a problem that has plagued children for ages — making their beds. The idea had hooks attached to the sheets with a roller behind the headboard, meaning by just cranking the roller, the sheets would move to their proper position and the bed would be made.Kaelyn Harris of Mitchell Elementary won second for her Magnetic Blinds, while Abby Coker took home third place for her Reslip, which is an adjustable slip that can become shorter if need be so that the slip no longer shows.Many of the students made inventions to solve or prevent problems in their own lives. Fifth-grader Jackson Skelton suffered a head injury one summer while kneeboarding, so he made a four-layer helmet for use during water sports.Julendria Nowell from Mitchell Elementary made a utensil sorter to make doing dishes after dinner more fun and easier.Third-grader Rueben Gaspar has to deal with his mother always telling him to put away his game system, so he built, finished and painted a wood center that would allow him to play his games without the need to put them away.Other students invented things to help those close to them. Takiyah Thomas from Thompson Elementary made a massaging shirt because her mother has a bad back. Fourth-grader Bradley Sparks from Eura Brown made a model for a solar-powered, voice-activated wheelchair with text messaging capability, because his mother has mobility problems and he wanted to make things easier for her.Some students’ inventions were to prevent problems that could be caused by people with less than noble intentions. Sam Day from Eura Brown had an idea for an ignition disabler to prevent drunk driving. Third-grader Evan Tigue, Mitchell, had an idea for an anti-bullying hat, complete with MP3 player and headphones to tune out bullies.Both Zachary Garmon, Walnut Park, and Alex Farley, Mitchell, wanted to prevent thefts. Garmon had a piggy bank with an alarm on the bottom for “annoying brothers and sisters,” according to Crisson.Farley had heard about purse thefts and pickpockets, so she made a fully-functioning alarm system so that if a wallet was removed, a loud alarm was sounded. Her mother was beaming as she explained the invention.“She’s always inventing stuff,” Rachel Farley said. “So I’m a proud momma.”

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